Yesterday, the vaccines developer biotech, GeoVax Labs Inc. (GOVX) announced a patent for its malaria vaccine candidate. Coming on the heels of a cancer vaccine patent, the news had GOVX stock rally big during intraday trading. The stock was able to amass 29.20% in the session while a heft volume of 3,474% of the average shares exchanged. At the close of yesterday’s trading, the stock was valued at $1.11 per share.
Today, on April 27, the stock has fallen under corrections to shed its gains in the premarket. At the time of writing, GOVX was trading at a price of $1.02 after losing 8.11%.
GOVX’s Malaria Vaccine Patent
The company had recently filed a patent application with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office for its malaria vaccine candidate. On Tuesday, the company said that the patent application was successful and it has been issued Patent No. 11,311,612 for the vaccine.
While most of the existing vaccine candidates for malaria are based on proteins that target only one stage of the parasite’s life cycle, GOVX’s candidate has antigens from multiple stages of the parasite’s life cycle. Thus, the company’s vaccine MVA-VLP has much potential to offer a broader response against the disease.
The World of Vaccines Post-Pandemic
Covid-19 has forever changed the world, ushering in a new era of vaccine production. While before the pandemic around 5 billion vaccine doses were produced annually, the figures have dramatically increased to 11 billion doses of Covid vaccines alone in just 2021.
Another advancement brought about by the pandemic is the new mRNA technology used in Pfizer and Modrena’s Covid vaccines. Before the majority of vaccines were inactivated vaccines or attenuated ones. The mRNA technology is shuffling the industry with now many focused on bringing mRNA-based vaccines for numerous diseases.
The global vaccine sales market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.15% from 2022 to 2027 with its projected value being $353.04 billion for 2027.
GOVX’s Performance & Outlook
The company is currently focused on developing its Covid-19 vaccine which is in Phase 2 clinical trials while its lead cancer product is in Phase ½ clinical trial for head and neck cancer. The cancer vaccine candidate was recently issued a patent in March 2022, following which its malaria vaccine candidate also received a patent yesterday. In addition, the company is also developing vaccines for Ebola and Zika viruses which have so far shown positive potential in preclinical studies.
GOVX will be reporting its Q1 fiscal 2022 financial results today after the market closes. Analysts are expecting the vaccine maker to report losses of $0.40 per share for the quarter while the previous quarter’s earnings stood at -$2.24 per share.
